The solitude of the moorland, and an occasional Americano in a busy café...

Pass through the gate...and walk forever.

Except for a horse and rider, completing an 80 mile endurance ride, there wasn't another soul on the Balnaboth Moor today. Under blue skies, the warmth of the Spring sunshine held its own, even in the gusty winds that registered up to 104 km/h on the anemometer. - very breezy!

The "outdoors" seems endlessly vast. Somewhere in between the size of Ireland and Austria, Scotland's modest 30,420 square miles is a land of dramatically varied topography - including an astonishing 787 islands and over 6,000 miles of coastline. Ah...sea kayaking. The venue today wasn't far from home, just inside Cairngorms National Park in the Angus Glens.

Exposed to the full-on winds that rush from Atlantic Ocean to North Sea, across the breadth of the country, these gentle hills of Glen Prosen have a rawness and a mystique to them.

Steady at 48, max recorded gust at 104.

They may not have the stunning beauty of the ancient, craggy, snow-capped mountains, just a little beyond, but there's a beauty that the soul, perhaps more than the eye, can perceive. There's a gentle "toughness" required to live here and work amidst these hills. Modern day shepherds tend to the sheep whose tiny lambs gambol and frolic in their attempts to joyously defy gravity, failing, but happily trying again and again.

It's a good place to explore and traverse the "inner" landscape of the human spirit. There's sound all around, but there is no noise to distract. Perhaps it's the "sounds of silence"?

A few moments shelter behind a windbreak.

I am willing and can well hold my own in the company of gregarious extroverts in a crowded coffee shop, or anywhere else for that matter - at least until actual "listening" becomes optional. (At that point there seems little rational to stay any longer.) My personality type, however, much prefers quiet places such as these isolated and windswept moors. They energise and refresh.

The hills "flow" into one another.

The big sky and expansive land invites deep reflection. They invite the heart and mind to open and draw in the freshness of open space and uninterrupted time. There's a feeling of liberation. My soul mate and partner in life concurs.

Having said all that, I will admit that there are certainly times to head from the hills for an Americano, with a little hot milk on the side - and, of course, a scone. At such times, it doesn't really matter how busy or frenetic the ambiance. In fact, it can be fun. It's balance. 

A very friendly café in Perth.

So yes, to everything there is a season. :)